CRST 290 Noah’s Flood: Scripture Meets Geology
The Flood’s Totality
1. Both OT and NT authors argue that all people, except Noah and his family, were killed during
the flood.
2. The flood is directly compared with Christ’s return and his judgment of all people.
3. The Flood’s destruction was for humanity and global in scope.
A Choice to Make Geology and the Flood
1. The geologic record (including fossils) is a record of either:
a. Recent creation and the Flood.
OR
b. Billions of years of life on Earth.
Tectonics and the Flood
1. Two questions for any model of the Flood:
a. Where did the water come from?
b. Where did it go?
2. The flood is essentially a geological/tectonic event.
3. It is tectonic movements that will answer the two questions.
Plate Tectonics
1. The Lithosphere is a group of mobile units (plates) composed of some of the upper mantle, and
capped by oceanic and/or continental crust.
Patterns and Tectonics
1. Certain features indicate that the continents have not always been in their present location.
a. Continents seem to “fit” together.
b. Matching mountain chains across the Atlantic Ocean.
c. Similar fossils across the Atlantic Ocean.
d. Matching geologic units across the oceans.
e. Locations of earthquakes and volcanoes.
2. Additional discoveries about the ocean floor indicated that the ocean floor has moved over time.
a. Extremely long, volcanic mountain chains (called ocean ridges)
b. Magnetic reversals recorded in ocean crust.
c. It appears that the ocean floor is younger ridges, and older further away.
The Created World was Different
1. Prior to the Flood, the existing continents were in different locations.
2. Prior to the flood, the world had little tectonic activity.
a. No ocean ridges.
b. No plate movements.
c. No massive mountain chains (e.g., the Himalayas)
d. Little or no earthquakes or volcanoes.
Catastrophic Plate Tectonics (CPT)
1. First proposed by creationist geologists in Austin et al. in 1994.
2. Envisions rapid continental “sprint” during the Flood.
3. The flood began with the onset of subduction.
a. The pre-Flood ocean crust began to sink into the mantle near its border with the continents.
b. As the ocean crust sank, it cracked near its center, allowing new magma to rise up from
the mantle, creating an ocean ridge.
c. The sinking of the old ocean crust created a runaway feedback; continents moved at
several miles per hour.
Water Sources for the Flood
1. Genesis 7 lists 2 sources of Flood water:
a. Fountains of the great deep.
b. Windows of heaven.
2. Both of these were caused by the ocean ridges, themselves made during the Flood.
How to Flood the World in 4 Awful Steps
1. During CPT, the water from the oceans moved over the continents in four ways:
a. Geysers at the ocean ridges vaporize water, which condenses to form massive
rains (“geshem”)
b. Subduction of ocean crust “drags” the continents downward (lets ocean water cover more
of the continents).
c. The new ocean crust is warmer and lighter than the old ocean crust, effectively elevating
the ocean floor (more water forced on continents).
d. Ocean water is warmed during the flood and expands (same amount of water takes up more
space.
Stopping the Catastrophe
1. After 150 days, “God remembered Noah”.
2. As the old, pre-Flood crust is replaced, the new, warmer ocean crust slows subduction; less
subduction means:
a. Less volcanics at ocean ridges, slowing the geysers.
b. Less friction on continents, allowing them to “bounce back” upward.
3. Cooling of the ocean water and new ocean crust pulls Flood water back into the oceans, off of
the continents.
CPT Answers the Questions
1. Where did the water for the Flood come from?
a. The oceans.
2. Where did it go when the Flood ended?
a. Back to the oceans,
Successful Predictions of CPT
1. Two important predictions now confirmed.
a. Extremely rapid magnetic reversals.
b. Existence of cold material (pre-Flood ocean crust) in the deep mantle.
The Judged World Is Different
1. Because of the Flood, none of the continents are in the same place. (event “Pangea” was a mid-
Flood configuration)
2. Because of the Flood, new mountain ranges like the Rockies and Himalayas, now exist.
3. Because of the Flood, geological disasters are common.
4. We are constantly reminded of the judgment of God on humanity, and our own responsibility for
even “natural” disasters.
But the Judgement is Finished (Genesis 9:11)
